Bob Stewart, 91; produced game shows that enthralled US

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WASHINGTON - Bob Stewart, a television producer who understood that Americans love to find bargains, learn secrets, and win prizes, and who accordingly gave the country a raft of phenom game shows including “The Price Is Right’’ and the “Pyramid’’ franchise, died Thursday at a hospital in Los Angeles.

A former writer for radio variety shows, Mr. Stewart joined the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions in the mid-1950s. In the next four decades, he masterminded some of the most popular game shows in TV history.

To critics, game shows are crass manifestations of American consumerism and even greed. To fans, who number in the millions, the shows are raw pleasure, a sort of sedentary sport in which Anyman (or woman) is always the star player.

“Bob had the pulse on America,’’ Fred Wostbrock, coauthor of “The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows,’’ said Saturday. “He had that skill to come up with a game that . . . anybody can play: word association, how much is the price of an object, or who’s telling the truth. They’re actually simple games, if you analyze it.’’

In 2010, Mr. Stewart was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Hall of Fame. The award recognized his work on Goodson-Todman programs including “To Tell the Truth’’ and “Password’’ and - later in his career, as the head of his own production company - “The $10,000 Pyramid.’’ The “Pyramid’’ programs alone racked up nine Emmy Awards, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Mr. Stewart’s success stemmed largely from his powers of observation. In New York, where he worked in his youth as an all-purpose television writer, producer, and director, he noticed a pattern shared by window shoppers. They would peer into doughnut shops and delicatessens, point to the item that struck their fancy, then turn to their companions and say: “What do you think it goes for?’’

That ritual became the basis for “The Price Is Right.’’ Mr. Stewart pitched the idea to Goodson-Todman - a titan among game-show production companies - and the show debuted in 1956. It became perhaps Mr. Stewart’s most enduring success, with both daytime and prime-time episodes running for much of the next decade. A revival version hosted by Bob Barker aired from 1972 until Barker’s retirement in 2007, making it the longest-running game show in American history.

“The Price Is Right’’ exemplified the early years of American game shows. It was an era before flashiness took over television, and when studio audiences were riled into a lather by housewives’ ability to divine the price of Ajax foaming cleanser. More important, in Mr. Stewart’s estimation, were the TV viewers at home.

“Once you cause somebody at home to talk to the set aloud, even by himself or herself, then you’ve got a good game show,’’ he said in an interview for the Archive of American Television. “Make that person at home yell something. . . . You want them to say, ‘It’s number 2! It’s number 2! It’s number 2!’ before the moment of truth comes out.’’

“The Price Is Right’’ was also a 1950s “sponsor’s dream,’’ a point noted in the “Encyclopedia of Television.’’ With rationing left behind with World War II, manufacturers were willing to provide goods in exchanges for plugs on the show. Contestants were handsomely rewarded, too, with prizes including houses, cars, cold cuts for a year, and wheelbarrows full of silver dollars, Wostbrock noted.

If “The Price Is Right’’ let viewers root for regular people, “To Tell the Truth’’ invited them to revel in celebrity. In that show, which also debuted in 1956, a panel of celebrities was assembled and invited to examine three contestants, one of whom had an unusual job or personal background and two of whom were imposters.

Mr. Stewart told Wostbrock that he got the idea for the show by observing the guesswork about other people’s private lives that he noted in crowded elevators. The show ran until 1967.

He also created “Password,’’ a show that debuted early in the 1960s and was hosted by Allen Ludden, husband of Betty White. According to the “Encyclopedia of Television,’’ it was the first show in which ordinary people teamed up with celebrities to try to win.

Mr. Stewart left Goodson-Todman in 1964 and started Bob Stewart Productions. The company created a total of 15 TV shows, the first of them being “Eye Guess.’’ He was best known for a show that began in 1973 called “The $10,000 Pyramid,’’ hosted initially by Dick Clark.

Popularity and syndication helped the show up the ante, allowing it to be renamed “The 20,000 Pyramid,’’ “The $25,000 Pyramid’’ and, by 1981, “The $50,000 Pyramid.’’ A breathless production that paired celebrities with common contestants, it was raucously popular.

Today, “The Price Is Right’’ is one of the last traditional game shows left standing. Mr. Stewart retired in 1992.

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